Due to the abundance of information available for sale or license in today's marketplace, it is often a formidable task for a customer to be aware of even a portion of the information that is available. Furthermore, the task is often made even more difficult by the customer's desire to make use of the resources of a number of different information suppliers, in order to ensure access to a diverse range of information.
Unfortunately, the success of a centralized information distribution system, capable of coordinating a customer's information retrievals from a number of different information suppliers, has been restricted by the lack of a convenient billing method capable of accommodating the unique billing needs of each information supplier.
Many information suppliers presently utilize centralized computer bulletin board systems (BBS) or similar on-line information services to distribute information to customers. A bulletin board system or on-line information service typically presents a customer with a listing of the information that is available, and allows the customer to select desired information to be downloaded to the customer's computer terminal.
A customer is typically billed for information retrieved from a bulletin board or on-line information service in one of two ways. First, the customer can be billed based on the duration of the call. However, under this arrangement, there is little, if any, relationship between the fee charged and the value of the downloaded information. Furthermore, in order to ensure collection of the fee, a pre-existing contractual arrangement is normally required that obligates the customer to pay for retrieved information.
Alternatively, information suppliers can make their information available on a bulletin board service and collect the appropriate fee upon a customer's voluntary compliance with the license registration. However, the collection of the fee under such an arrangement is dependent upon the good faith of the customer.
As apparent from the above deficiencies with prior information distribution systems, a need exists for an information distribution system that allows an information supplier to sell or license data to a customer, without the need for a pre-existing contractual arrangement. In addition, a further need exists for an information distribution system that establishes a fee that is based on the value of the retrieved information.